Cowpark farmers want council to back down
Three small farmers who have been renting the cowpark at Edmonton, Killucan from the council for decades have been given six weeks notice to vacate the land.
The council informed the tenants that they will have to move their cattle from the 38-acre plot as they intend to let the land. Tenant Mags Glennon says that she and her fellow tenants will not be giving up the land without a fight.
“My family have had the tenancy since 1977, while another tenant’s father first started renting there in the 1950s. They want to get rid of the cowparks because they are not providing enough money – we offered to pay them more but they said no.”
Ms Glennon’s family keeps four or five cattle on the land, and if the council evict them she says they will be forced to sell their herd.
“Each family would have four or five cows, each cow would have a calf every year. There’s not a whole lot of money to be made, but whatever few hundred you get would go towards insurance or new tyres for the car and if you live in the country you depend on the car.
“Also you get a small bit extra on the Single Farm Payment but if we have to leave we’ll have no land and that will be another loss,” she said.
Originally owned by the Land Commission, cowparks were traditionally rented to small farmers for grazing. In recent decades the council has sold a number of these parcels of lands, much to the anger of campaigners such as Collinstown’s Paddy Boyhan.
“It’s a crime what the council are doing to these people. I’d say in general they spend more time than most farmers on the land. They visit at least twice a day and are really looking after their stock.
“This is a campaign that’s been going on for years since the council started selling. It’s about time they started standing up for the smallest and weakest farmers in the community. It was meant for people with very little land and that’s the way it has to continue.”
At the time of going to press, the Westmeath Examiner was awaiting a response from the council.